San Diego Maker Faire Was A ~Gas!~
If only you could have been there!
Last weekend (October 7th and 8th, 2017) we exhibited at Maker Faire in San Diego.
The Faire was held in Balboa Park, home to seventeen museums, eight gardens, and the world-renowned San Diego Zoo.
"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success."
– Nikola Tesla –
The Faire was very well attended.
I spent most of my time manning the SILVERengines booth and answering questions. The most frequently asked question was "What's this all about?"
Making Cottage Industry Infinitely Scalable
Original Image by @creatr
Makers of all ages came to the San Diego Maker Faire.
At our booth, we provided activities for children from six to sixty.
There was a button to push that caused a 3D calibration switch (that saw-tooth gadget in the image above) to advance a step.
The SILVERengines Booth at the Maker Faire. Our booth babe fields a question.
Original Image by @creatr
We also offered a Maker challenge:
"Try building one of our products."
We provided "Easy" and "Hard" versions of this challenge.
Even the "Easy" version was somewhat challenging, because it involved assembling the three plastic case pieces correctly. Those three pieces can be assembled many ways, but only one is the right way.
Our complete "FabUnit" fits on a single banquet table.
In that small space, we can fabricate 2,500 SILVERengines protons per year.
We want makers to realize that they can use "maker tools" for product development, production, and tool-making tasks as well. In other words, because of 3D printing, it's possible to grow as a manufacturer without a huge capital outlay for facilities.
San Diego Maker Faire 2017
The title of our exhibit was:
"We Made Our Cottage Industry Infinitely Scalable With 3-D Printed Tooling"
Because we 3D print both our product and much of our tooling, we can replicate and double our production capacity almost overnight as demand increases.
I find the growing popularity of Maker Faire encouraging.
It is good to see people delighting in creating new and beautiful things. It's fun to watch children's eyes light up when they are able to complete a circuit and see an LED turn on or hear a buzzer or bell.
San Diego Maker Faire 2017
Kids have a built-in drive to learn, do, and make things.
It was a blast to watch them go last weekend.
In the next few days,
I'll be sharing some more stories from the Faire.
~FIN~
![SILVERengines](https://steemitimages.com/DQmar2UPqN7hq5nXGCsPNATQHf5K41fE9G4fkTFoyP613hS/EveryFamily.jpg)
Introducing: The SILVERengines proton - Image by @creatr
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Glad to hear of your success. Fun to learn of this trade. Thanks for sharing creatr
Thank you. ;)
Congratulations!!!! And what a pretty booth babe she is ❤️
Thanks... We think so! ;)
Those Fairs are fun and it sounds like you had a good time. I loved the reference to your "booth babe"....bahaha....only some people can get away with that. As my son would say often to me "you're such a hippie".
Thanks. It was great.
I only wish I had had more time to wander and see what everyone else was up to, but I somehow find it rather difficult to be in two places at once. ;D
I am still waiting for the post where you show us a bunch of new inventions that will dazzle us!
Ah, you may have to visit my mysterious, secret laboratory in order to do that. If I showed them all to you here, I might have to kill you... ;)
Bahahahah!
I love product fairs like that - it used to be that way at our Canadian National Exhibition but now it's turned into carnival rides and the expositions in buildings are more reminiscent of flea markets
If you ever have a chance to visit a Maker Faire, grab it! They are truly awesome.
I'll be posting some more about it soon...
sounds good :)